The South Bay Beach Cities of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach are three of the best places to live in Los Angeles County.  The good news is that these are truly lovely places... the bad news is they are very expensive.

The lure of living by the beach is a strong one and people make many sacrifices to buy a home in our communities.  Manhattan Beach is the most expensive followed by Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach.

So what are some of the things that make the Beach Cities  different from other areas of Los Angeles?

Well for starters real estate ...We sell our real estate by the foot not the acre. If you are moving from another part of the country you will be shocked by the prices.   The beach cities are pricey.. there is just so much beach and most of the communities the coast in California are built out. We just don't have any more vacant land in the coastal cities.  If you want to build a new home you will have to tear down an existing one first.   Manhattan Beach is  one of the ten most expensive cities in California..Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, El Segundo and the Palos Verdes Peninsula are often on the list. 

Another thing we have that  most other cities in Los Angeles don't have is our own movie studio... Raleigh Studios.   Celebrities have always loved the beach and have owned homes all over the South Bay. Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach  has always been a draw for sports and entertainment figures.  The Hollywood Riviera got it's name because the developer hoped to lure stars from the industry to South Redondo in the 1930's. You never know who will be in line next to you at Von's or grabbing a latte at The Coffee Bean or Starbucks.

Then there's the beach itself.  Our local beaches are stunning and are some of the most beautiful beaches in Southern California. You can bike from El Segundo to  the cliffs of Palos Verdes. The  beaches are wide and the sand is ideal.  We don't call them playgrounds without a reasdon. Heres's an interesting fact:  the white sand on the beach at Waikiki in Honolulu was shipped from Manhattan Beach in the 1920's by the Kuhn Bros.

Smog.. What's That?

Location... location... location.. Manhattan, Hermosa, Redondo and El Segundo are close to everything. The 405 and 105 Freeways are close enough to be convenient and far enough away so they don't inpede our quiet lifestyle. We are just a half hour from downtown LA and Century City.  You can be at a Lakers, Clippers or Dodgers game or a play or concert with time left over to get snacks.  We are 4 miles from the LAX and 15 minutes from Hawthorne Airport if you have your own plane. 

Community Spirit... each of our beach towns is a unique community.  While  these towns are literally side by side each has it's own Unified School District. The test scores are some of the highest in the state.  We still have  quaint and lovely downtown areas in the beach cities.  Each town has favorite breakfast places,  funky beach bars and excellent dinner restaurants. We have shops that cater to locals and few tourist traps.  Each city has traditional  get togethers.. In Redondo Beach it's the annual 10K run, the Lobster Festival and the Fourth of July  fireworks off the pier.   Hermosa  celebrates St Patricks Day with a fun parade and at the beginning and end of summer  has a huge Arts and Craft's festival with lots of local artists.. Manhattan Beach begins each October with a  10K run through town and the Hometown Fair.  December features the lighting of the Pier and fireworks at Christmas from the Manhattan Beach Pier.

 History..  Redondo became a city in 1892.  Hermosa Beach is celebrating it's 100th Birthday this year and Manhattan Beach is looking at 95 this year.  Redondo Beach was  one of the hottest resort towns around the turn of the century.  The Red Cars brought crowds of beachgoers to  Redondo each summer.  There was a fabulous hotel complete with golf course and ballrooms or you could rent a tent by the day or month.  Huntington beach and Santa Cruz are fighting it out for the title of Surf City USA but Hermosa is where it all came together... Greg Noll, Hap Jacobs, Dewey Weber and Body Glove.. these are all local Hermosa guys.  Volleyball and Manhattan Beach.. Many of the best professional volleyball players got their start as kids playing on the nets b the Manahttan Beach Pier and around Marine and 28th. 

Entertainment... The Beach Cities are becoming quite the hot spot.. The Civic Light Opera is so good we give downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood a run for their money.  We have some really great restaurants with more opening every day.  We have national restaurants, but the best places in town are local favorites... Mangiamos on  Manhattan Beach Blvd has a cellar where you can dine.. Petros is a wonderful Greek restaurant in the new Metlox Plaza.. In Hermosa The Bottle Inn Ristorante has been delighting everyone for over 30 years with an amazing wine list some bigger places envy. In Redondo it's Old Tony's on the Pier   just across the pier from New Tony's Fish Market.. Between them they have been around for 50 years..Now we have a lot of others but these are classics that are truly beach restaurants.